Portable milling-machine for milling pockets for switch-points in stock-rails.



T. F. HILLIARD. PORTABLE MILLING MACHINE FOR MILLING POCKETS FOR SWITCH POINTS IN STOCK RAILS.

APPLICATION FILED IULYI3, I9I4. 1,138,656.

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PORTABLE MILLING MACHINE FOR MILLING POCKETS FOR SWITCH POINTS IN STOCK RAILS.

APPLICATION FILED IULYI3. 19|4.

Patented May 11, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENIUR THOMAS F.. I'IILLIARD Al mmm T. F. HILLIARD. V PORTABLE MILLING MACHINE FOR MILLING POCKETS FOR SWITCH POINTS IN STOCK RAILS.

APPLICATION FILED IULYIS. I9I4.

Patented May 11, 1915.

3 SHEEIS-SHEET 3.

...vErL

INVENTOR THOMAS I". MILA-IARD WITNESSES y? A! Y PHoTcVL/THU wA HlNu VON. D

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS F. I-IILLIARD, OF OIL CITY, PENNSYLVANIA.

PORTABLE MILLING-MACHINE FOR MILLING POCKETS FOR SWITCH-POINTS IN STOCK- RAILS.

AppIication filed July 13, 1914.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, TrioMAs F. HILLIARD, citizen of the United States, residing at Oil (ity, in the county of Venango and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Portable Milling- Machines for Milling Pockets for Switch- Points in Stock-Rails, of which the following is a specification.

The object, construction and operation of my improved portable milling machine, are herein set forth with suflicient clearness to enable those skilled in the art to which it most nearly relates to make and use the same.

0 bjeef-The obj eet of this invention is to provide a suitable machine for milling off the side of the ball or head of a railwayrail, such as is termed a stock rail, after it has been placed in the track, and at the particular location where a switch-point comes into contact with said rail-head, for the purpose of forming a wider, truer, firmer bearing and lateral support for said switchpoint, Vso that the same will be protected from the wear and pressure of the wheels of the rolling-stock, thus insuring greater durability of said point, and greater safety to the trains passing over same, and to the operatives of said trains and the passengers carried thereby.

Heretofore, the work which this machine is designed to perform, has been done with hammer and chisel, but this is not only a laborious process, but the results obtained are not always satisfactory.

(lonstrue0n.-'l`he construction whereby l attain said objects, is clearly shown in the drawings, the various figures of which are as follows:

Figure l is a right-side elevation of the machine, Fig. 2 is a plan View of same, Fig. 3 is a left-side elevation, Fig. 4 is an end view, Fig. 5 is a section on line V-V of Fig. 2, Fig. 6 is a section on line VI-VI of Fig. 2, Figs. 7, 8 and 9 are details, Fig. l() shows the head of a rail upon which is indicated by the section-lined portion, the part of the head which is to be removed by means of my machine.

The same reference character is applied to identical parts in all the views.

As here illustrated, my milling machine comprises a bed l, provided at either end with suitable clamps 2, arranged to engage Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 11, 1915.

serial No. 850,778.

the head or ball of a railway rail 3, and to clamp said bed firmly thereto, so that the machine cannot move, either laterally or longitudinally of the rail, nor sway thereon. At either end of said bed, and upon both sides thereof, are formed downwardly-projecting lugs 4, el, which are arranged to be positioned upon either side of the rail-head lwhen the machine is in the operating position, as shown in Fig. 4. An adjusting screw 5 projects through each of said lugs, the inner ends of which screws are arranged to bear against their respective side of the rail head for the purpose of securing the proper position and alinement of said bed 1 upon the rail, also for making lateral adjustments of said bed upon said rail before the clamps 2 have been tightened. By this means the depth of the cut of the millingtool 6 into the rail may be Varied, as desired. Said screws also adapt the machine to be applied to rails of various sizes.

Fig. 10 is a full sized section of a rail weighing 100 pounds to the yard, and the portion which is cross-hatched shows substantially the amount which it is necessary to remove to form the abutting surface for a switch-point.

Bed 1 is provided with a carriage-rail 7, and a carriage 8 is mounted thereon and adapted to travel longitudinally thereof. The upper face of said rail 7 is provided with a rack 9. Mounted in proximity to one end of said carriage is a pinion 10,-Fig- 5,- which meshes with said rack 9, for the purpose hereinafter set forth.

Upon the outer end of the shaft 11 which carries said pinion l0, is loosely or revolubly mounted a worm-wheel 12, the hub of which is formed into one member 13 of a jawclutch; the other member 14 of said clutch is feathered upon the feed-shaft 11 and is adapted to be slipped into and out of engagement with its companion member 13, whereby said feed-shaft 11 may be revolved by said worm-wheel, or said shaft may revolve without revolving said wheel, and the purpose of this arrangement will presently appear. Upon said carriage 8 is mounted a vertically-extending bracket 15, which is provided with bearings 16 and 17 for the reception and mounting of a revoluble power-transmission shaft 1S, to the upper end of which is keyed a bevel gear 19. At the upper end of said bracket 15, bearings 20, Q0 are provided, and a horizontally-disposed, power-receiving shaft 21 is revolubly mounted in said bearings. A bevel pinion Q2 is keyed to said shaft 21 and meshes with the gear 19 for the purpose of driving same and shaft 18 to which it is secured. Said shaft 21 extends, at either end, beyond the bearings 20, and said extending ends are cach adapted for the reception of an operatingr crank 3, whereby the machine is adapted to be manually operated. I do not wish, however, to be understood as confining my invention to a manually-operated machine, for the reason that a power-driven machine is equally within the scope of my invention.

The lower end of shaft 18 terminates in the bearing Q4, which bearing is carried by the carriage 8 and is an extension of the bracket 15. Swingingly mounted upon said shaft 18, and positioned between the bearings 16 and :9.1, is the milling-tool arm 25, which is shown removed from the machine and in side elevation in Fig. 7. Said arm is provided with two bearings, an upper bearing 2G and a lower bearing 27, through which shaft 18 passes. Positioned between said bearings 2G and 27, mounted upon said shaft 18 and keyed thereto, is a worm Q8 and a spur-gear 29. Said worm, meshes with and is adapted to drive said wormwlieel 12, and, through the medium of clutch members 13 and 11, previously described, to drive shaft 11 and the thereto-attached pinion 10, whereby carriage 8 is caused to travel longitudinally of rail 7 and bed 1. iVhen the machine is in operation, said carriage travels in the direction indicated by the arrows in Figs. 1, 2 and 9.

In the arm 25 is mounted an arbor 30,-- see Fig. 6,-to the lower end of which is secured a milling-cutter G. Keyed to said arbor is a pinion 31, to which motion is transmitted from pinion Q9 through the medium of the intermediate pinion Above the milling-cutter 6, is provided a sleeve 33 having a plain periphery, which is adapted to travel against or impinge upon the milling-guide 34, that is removably attached to bed 1, and is separately shown in Fig: 9. The profile of the outer guide-face, against which sleeve 33 travels is formed to define or regulate the work of the cutter 6, both as to the depth of its cut and the longitudinal extent of same, and to define the point at which it will begin to cut and the point at which it will cease to cut, and this definition is automatically provided for and secured in the following manner: As previ.- ously stated, arm 25 is swingingly mounted upon shaft 18, so that the cutter 6 is movable toward, or away from, its work,-that 1s, toward or away from the rail-head. Now, for the purpose of holding said cutter yieldably, yet with sufficient pressure up to its work to cause it to properly perform the same, I provide a bolt 35, which is attached at its inner end to the carriage 8.

The free, or outer end of arm 25 is provided with an eye 36, through which said bolt 35 passes; a spring 37 is provided which bears at its inner end against said arm, and through which spring said bolt also passes; a washer 38 is placed upon the end of said bolt and, b v means of a nut 39, said washer is caused to bear against the adjacent end of said spring 37, thus causing said spring, in turn, to bear against said arm with the proper amount of pressure to hold cutter G to its work. It will be readily understood that said pressure may be regulated as desired by means of said nut 39.

By reference to Fig. 9 it will be noticed that the ends of the guide 34 are thicker than the intermediate portion. Said thicker, end portions are for the purpose of causing cutter 6 to move outwardly, away from the rail upon which it operates, thus automatically imparting to the milled pocket, or face of the rail, the proper length, profile and area for the proper seating of a switchpoint. I call attention to the fact that said area, the length, depth and profile of said switch-point pocket, thus milled, may be modified as desired by modifying the guide face of the guide 31, which is made removable for the purpose of readily permitting said modification, and the use of guides of various shapes. Attention has already been called to the fact that the depth of said pocket may also be modified by means of the lateral adjustments made possible by the screws 5.

In Fig. 8 is shown one of the clamps that are employed to clamp the bed of my machine to the railway-rail 3. For the reception of these clamps a slotted way is milled transversely of the bed 1, in which said clamps are inserted, and a right-and-lefthand screw '-10 is employed to actuate each pair of clamps. Face 11 of the clamp, which bears against the face 42 of the rail, conforms thereto, and when said screws l() are turned so as to draw said clamps together into the rail-engaging or clamping position, i

their action is such as to clamp the bed 1 firmly to the rail 3 of a railway track. rIhis clamping construction is such that the machine may be quickly placed and clamped in position, also quickly unclamped and removed from the rail. Said quick removal is necessary for the reason that this machine must often be used on railway tracks, where trains are in operation, and the use of the machine must not interfere with the movement of such trains; in order to meet this requirement, the machine must be so constructed as to be quickly removable, to permit the passage of trains, also quickly replacable, to avoid loss of time.

The machine, as shown, is self-contained, and the manipulation of lsaid clamps is all that is necessary to secure the machine to or permit the removal of same from, the railway track. The screws 5 do not, in any way serve to attach the machine to the rail, they simply determine the lateral position of same relative to the rail.

Operation-rbc operation of my machine is substantially as follows: With each pair of clamps 2 positioned sufiiciently far apart to permit the passage of the ball of the rail between them, the machine bed 1 is placed upon the rail in the position shown in Fig. 4, and the proper lateral adjustment of said bed is then secured by means of the screws 5. Clamps 2 are then tightened up so that they firmly engage the rail 3. When the machine is in the starting position, sleeve 33 is at the .point upon the guide 34 indicated at A in Fig. 9, in which position the millingcutter is held out of operative contact with the rail through the medium of the thickcned end of the miller guide. The clutchlmembers 13 and 14 areengaged. Now, when the machine is operated, by lmeans of the cranks 23, carriage Stravels in the directionV Whenl sleeve indicated by said arrows. l reaches positionv B,y tl1'eKmilling.-cutter is workingl at its Vfull depth of cut, andcontinues so to operateuntil it reachesposition C, at which point, theproile of guide-strip 34 causes the cutter to move outwardly, against the action of spring 37, and when said cutter reaches position C, it is fully out of operative contact with lthe rail, and the milling operationis completed. Thegfilidef strip 34 may be turned end-for-end when'- necessary. In order to permit the quick return of the carriage to the starting position, clutch members are now disengaged, which will permit the carriage to .be pushed quickly backward, without loss of time to the starting position. It willbe understood that this clutch provision obviates the necessity of working the carriage backward by means of the handles 23, which would be a slow process.

I claim: Y

1. In a milling machine, a bed arranged to be secured to a railway rail, a carriage arranged to travel upon Said bed, a -millingcutter mounted in said carriage operable to remove a portion of the head of said rail, and a guide for said milling-cutter arranged to automatically define the operation of said vmilling-cutter upon said rail.

2. In a milling machine, a bed arranged to be secured to and to extend longitudinally of a railway-rail, means for adjusting said bed laterally upon said rail, a carriage mounted upon said bed and adapted to travel longitudinally thereof, a milling-cut- 'ter mounted upon said carriage operable to remove a portion of the head of said rail,

and means arranged to automatically define the operation of said cutter upon said rail.

3. In a milling machine, a bed arranged to be secured to and to extend longitudinally of a railway-rail, a carriage arranged to travel upon said bed longitudinally of said rail, means for causing said travel, an arm Swingingly mounted upon said carriage, a milling-cutter carried by said arm, operable to remove a portion of the head of said rai]7 and adapted to be operated by said carriageoperating means, and means arranged to automatically define the profile and longitudinal extent of the operation of said cutter upon said rail-head.

4. In a milling machine, a bed arranged to be secured to a railway-rail, a rack secured to said bed, a carriage arrangedl to travel upon said bed, a pinion revolubly mounted in said carriage engaging said rack, means for revolving said plnion to causesaid travel of said carriage, a milling-cutter yieldably mounted upon said carriage operable toy remove a portion of the head of said rail, and means rarranged to automaticallyjact upon said cutter in respect to said yieldability for the purpose of ldefining the action of said cutter upon said rail-head. f f. n

5. vIn a milling machine, a bed-arranged to besecured to a railwayrail and to extend longitudinally4 thereof, means for causing and securing the lateral adjustment of said bed upon said rail, a carriage-railupon said bed, a carriage arranged to travel upon said carriage-rail, means operableto cause said travel, a milling-cutter yieldably mounted upon said carriage, V.operable to dremove a portion of the head of said rail, and means arranged to coperate with said cutter in respect to said yieldability, for the purpose of defining the action of said cutter upon said head.

6. In a milling machine, a bed arranged to be secured to a railway-rail, and to be adjustable laterally thereon, means for causing said adjustment, a rack secured to said bed, a carriage arranged to travel upon said bed, a feed-shaft mounted in said carriage, a pinion secured to said shaft and meshing with said rack, a Vworm-wheel revolubly mounted upon said feed-shaft and provided with a clutch-member, a clutch member feathered to said shaft adapted to engage the clutch-member upon said wheel for the purpose or revolving said shaft and the theretoattached pinion, a power-transmitting shaft carried by said carriage, a worm secured to said transmitting shaft and meshing with said worm-wheel, means Operable to drive said,.-A ower-tr "smitting shaft, a milling- 5said carriage adapted to operate up A .ahead of said railway rail, and means tra ,emitting motion from said transmitting-shaft to said milling-cutter.

7 In a milling machine, a bed arranged to be secured to a railway-rail, and to be adjustable laterally thereon, means for effecting said adjustment, a rack secured to said bed, a carriage arranged to travel upon said bed, a feed-shaft revolubly mounted in said carriage, a pinion secured to Said shaft and meshing with said rack for the purpose set forth, a Worm-wheel revolubly mounted upon said feed-shaft, and provided With a clutch-member, a clutch-member slidably secured to shaft and arranged to engage said wheel member for the purpose of causing the revolution of said feed-shaft and the thereto-attached pinion, a powertransmitting shaft carried by said carriage, means operable to drive said last-mentioned shaft, a Worm keyed to said transmitting shaft and meshing with said Worm-Wheel, a spur-pinion .also keyed to said transmitting shaft, an arm swingingly mounted upon said transmitting shaft, there being an eye at the free end of said arm, an arbor revolubly mounted in said arm, means transmitting motion from said transmitting shaft to said arbor, a milling-tool secured to said arbor and arranged to mill the head of said railway-rail, a bolt attached to said carriage and extending through said eye, a nut upon the outer end of said bolt, and a spring interposed between said nut and said arm for the purpose of yieldably holding said milling-cutter to its Work.

8. In a milling machine a bed arranged to be secured to a railway-rail and to be adjustable laterally thereon, means for effecting and securing said adjustment, a rack secured to said bed, a carriage arranged to travel upon said bed, a feed-shaft revolubly mounted in said carriage, a pinion secured to said shaft meshing with said rack and adapted to cause said travel of said carriage, a worm-wheel revolubly mounted upon said feed-Shaft and provided With a clutch-member, a cooperating clutch-member feathered to said shaft and arranged to engage said wheel-member, for the purpose set forth, a transmission-shaft carried by said carriage, means operable to drive said transmission-shaft, a Worm keyed to said transmission shaft and arranged to mesh with said Worm-wheel, a pinion also secured to said transmission shaft, an arm swingingly mounted upon said'transmission-shaft, an arbor revolubly mounted in said arm and provided with a guide-section or sleeve, a milling-guide secured to said bed, and adapted for the impingement of said guidesleeve, yieldable means arranged to hold Said guide-sleeve in contact With said milling-guide, a milling-tool secured to said arbor arranged to mill the head of said rail, and means transmitting motion from said transmission shaft to said arbor and the milling-cutter carried thereby.

In testimony whereof I affix my signaturev two Witnesses.

THOMAS F. HILLIARD. Witnesses H. Gr. JOHNSON, D. M. FLEISHMAN.

in presence of Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, I). C. 

